Bloomberg withdraws support for 9/11 trials in NY

The Obama administration may be forced to back down on plans to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other September 11 suspects in New York after Michael Bloomberg, the city's mayor, withdrew his support.

The decision of the mayor, an ally of the president, was a blow to the White House as it sought to hold trials that were intended in part make a statement about how its handling of justice and terror issues differed from the George W. Bush era.

With opposition to the plan to move the detainees from the Guantanamo Bay detention centre growing in Congress, Mr Obama was counting on the support of New York.

But echoing neighbourhood business groups, Wall Street firms and the real estate industry, Mr Bloomberg said the costs, estimated at $200 million a year, and inconvenience were simply too high for the city to bear.